


Cut The Monologue

by Pyreo



Category: Guild Wars 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Choking, Clothed Sex, Dom/sub Undertones, Kinky Domestic Roleplaying, Long Live The Lich, POV Second Person, Power Dynamics, Public Sex, Unrequited obsession, slight voyeurism??, we're not so different you and I but it's 4k words
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-13
Updated: 2018-07-24
Packaged: 2019-06-09 15:32:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15270597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pyreo/pseuds/Pyreo
Summary: You, the sylvari Commander, are about to walk into Palawa Joko's lair and face him down for what he's done, but you doubt he can even be killed.So what's the next best thing?The answer to 'could the commander just talk Joko out of revenge', a question I asked myself and then immediately answered, 'yes but only if they fucked'.





	1. You Will Not Go Astray

**Author's Note:**

> Joko canonically fucks that's all I'm saying about the logistics at hand here

“Give him one for me, Commander!”

Braham shouldered you bodily to the floor, cutting you loose from the paralysing field. A bit of shock still twitched in your nerves. It hadn’t been the most dignified entrance. You stood, carefully, checking yourself and glancing back at Braham, caught solid in the immobility trap. He was silent.

“ _T_ _hat’s_ your ace in the hole?” Palawa Joko’s voice both hissed and rumbled from the unseen shadows. “Morons so besotted with you they’re willing to sacrifice themselves? Haven’t enough people already died for you?”

You stepped forward, eyeing the empty, elaborate room. Aside from a couple of standing bone torches holding green flame at the far end, nothing else moved. You approached the grating in the centre, eyeing left and right but holding your itching trigger fingers back from drawing your weapon.

“Odd criticism, coming from you,” you retorted while searching across the pillars on the room’s raised sides. “Jealous?”

Hearty, throttled laughter echoed through the hall.

You took a steadying breath. “Joko! Out you come.” Your voice, thankfully, held its strength.

The grating under your feet shuddered. It clanged as a spray of tar spouted through the middle. Black ooze surged up like it owned the place, just as it did in many rooms of the Gandara fortress. It coalesced and lost its molten weight, collecting into a skeletal figure. Palawa Joko had formed in front of you. Wreathed in silks and gold, shouldering multiple tar-laden skulls, holding his elaborate dual-ended staff - his over-accessorised appearance made him more intimidating than he should be, you thought. You tried to remind yourself that under the heavy adornments of a pretentious fraud, he would be wizened and frail.

“That’s what it’s all been about, eh, Commander?” he said, low and wistful. Beckoning you closer with one hand. “You and I - two comets on a collision course.”

This was it. You stood face to face with the lich who had put you and your friends through hell. From the amalgamated army you had led to his door, now you alone remained to face him while your friends battled back the Awakened and held off the release of Joko’s plague.

You were here to kill him. A lich who bragged about his immortality. Who bragged about many other things besides, many of which, you knew, were false.

What if you fought him and proved it to be true?

“War. Plague. Gods. Dragons. I’ve seen them all,” Joko sighed. Although he moved the staff in his grasp, you still refrained from brandishing your own weapon. Somehow you wanted to wait for him to make the first uncivil move. “They come and go, like the tides. But a worthy nemesis… _that_ is rare indeed.”

“You’ve waited quite some time, Joko. I almost hate to be the one who finally cuts that long life short.”

You approached him. Willing yourself every step to focus on his lies, his corruptions, his throne built on fame by theft. What was he, really?

“Confident, aren’t you. You stand before Palawa Joko the Undying, Scourge of Vabbi, the Eternal Monarch. Whatever pithy titles _you_ have hold no sway here. So, what are you to me?”

You had to think of something. Joko was staring you down. He seemed eager to provoke you. Prepared for a final test of wills between the two of you. And yet if that was what he wanted, perhaps it would be the worst trap to fall into. The gauntlet you had run from the sewers had amounted to nothing more than an extended red carpet into his lair while Joko laughed at your expense.

You neared the god-king, glancing up to stare him in the eye. He was a fairly substantial amount taller than you. Then you walked on, passing him, speaking to him behind you.

“I think it’s more fair to ask what _aren’t_ I to you. Face it, Joko, you can’t belittle me now. I came in through your dungeon.”

You heard the tap-tap of ancient flesh on metal.

“See anything you liked?” he rasped.

You suppressed a shudder. But at the same time, you recalled something Joko had announced through his projections as you bumbled around his basement. Something you had heard mentioned multiple times. Joko was _bored_.

If only Braham could speak, you laughed internally. Easy to imagine what he’d be yelling now in irate confusion at what you were doing.

“Joko, you know what…” you didn’t turn to him yet, keeping your expression hidden, “you were right. I didn’t thank you for the entertainment. Or the invitation.” It was all you could do to hold back the sarcasm from your tone. “I really like what you’ve done with the place.”

An enthusiastic grunt came from Joko, and the clang of his staff on the stone floor. “It’s so _good_ to be appreciated for one’s efforts.”

At the far end of the room with the flame lamps were a few other of Joko’s personal oddities. A shelf, some jars with scarabs suspended in gel, and a low wall of his ever-present skulls. A high open window dominated the wall, with a viewing platform visible beyond.

To not falter during this was crucial. You made your way to the tables, stepped up onto it, hopped up higher using the skull pile, and lifted yourself up. Without looking back, you went out under the night sky. The night air was fresher. You could hear the distant, muted clash of battle far, far below.

A sound erupted to your right and when you looked, Joko had joined you, stepping out of his tar.

“I wanted to see from your balcony, uh, because, you know. We don’t have to rush this, right?”

“Ha!” Joko seethed with a grin. “Spoken like a true villain. The destroyer of dragons. The executioner of gods. I’m savouring every bit of this historic moment.” And then, lower, after a pause, “you could have just asked for some steps.”

It was hard not to smile. Did he take that as an insult to his powers?

“If I ever actually think you’ll give me something that I ask for, Joko, I’ll let you know.”

You wondered just how much Joko did ‘hate’ you. But you had learned what you hoped from it, after all - that if you did something _interesting_ , Joko might go along with it.

Even though you were highly elevated, a green haze around the Moon Fortress made the sky unclear. Hard to see the stars. You leaned down on the chiseled stone barrier of the balcony. Everything you’d been through seemed to have led you here, but then again, in your life that feeling cropped up every few months it seemed. You crossed your arms and your fingers brushed the bark where, grazed by one of Joko’s fire traps earlier, then blasted by cold air from another, a part had shattered off. It stung.

“...Did you really want to keep that little broken off bit of me?” To your side, Joko leaned back against the barrier. He faced back into the previous room, not at you. “As a… memento?” you prodded. “Why the traps? Why any of it? You wanted me to come here.”

“To pick off your norn. He’s tiresome.”

“But you didn’t know he’d be with me. The statue thing wasn’t even a trap, it was just funny.” You watched him. He did smirk. “You’re such a tease.”

“Well, come on, I couldn’t let you just walk in. One final way to prove you deserve the honour of facing me. After all, it is an honour to die by Joko’s hand. Usually I delegate.”

You continued watching him, fixing your gaze with the steadiness of expectation until the lich sighed and obliged you.

“Live this long and sensations lose their savour. One yearns desperately for something that can cut through the ennui. Pain is… piquant.” A wry chuckle slipped from him. “‘Tis better to give than to receive, no? Makes one feel alive-- well, you know what I mean.”

“You want us to hurt each other because you’re bored.”

“Try reaching your zenith hundreds of years past and having nobody there to challenge you on it before you go casting aspersions, _Commander_. Achieving universal acclaim was _so easy_. Being exalted and adored was easy. At least the screams are different every time.”

“Now, now. It’s not like you alone endure the burden of fame.”

“Oh yes!” he laughed. “Here’s me, wrenching devotion from my loyal subjects by any means necessary. Death… giving them life again. They love me either way. There’s you, trying oh so hard to ‘do the right thing’,” he made sarcasm quotes in the air, “and yet losing friends everywhere you go.”

You turned and adopted Joko’s same stance against the balcony edge. His words didn’t bother you. Something about his tone made it seem not entirely directed at you.

“There I am,” he continued, “teaching my subjects I slayed a false god, one my heretics worship. Just for the drama of it all, you know. And that I put an end to not one but _two_ elder dragons, the life force of this world, potentially throwing the natural order into chaos, and they _fear_ me. But _you_ ,” he tilted his head, “did those things.”

You didn’t retort. You didn’t even move. You were uncomfortable. And you sensed behind those words a little venom of jealousy.

“The world is finally _changing_ after so long. These cycles are coming undone. Not because of me. Perhaps I was too comfortable on my throne.”

“I would have taken the help up against Mordremoth, if I’d known,” you offered, wry and amused.

“Oh, Commander! That’s what I like about you, you’re a riot. As if I could be caught ‘dead’ - ha ha - assisting in your little band of desperate misfits.”

“If our goals were the same? ...What does it even matter.” You stared out at the sky again. Everything seemed murky from here. The stars. The legions below, fighting under your banner. Morality.

“Do you think it’s strange,” you started, haltingly, “to sit around and talk with your worst enemy? With all that’s going on?”

“No.”

“To enjoy it?”

Something quirked in Joko’s expression and he repeated, quieter, “no.”

“Do you really hate me, Joko?”

“Is it necessary to ask?”

“With the basement full of people you tortured to death while magically disguised as me? I guess not, but…”

You noticed Joko move, bearing down on you a little more, but you refused to direct your attention to him. “Oh, just so you don’t forget,” he sounded like he wanted your attention, “when you commanded my army in my name? Took them to wage your own war? _Stole_ the subjugated masses that I personally brought back from the dead and turned them against your own enemy?” He was close enough to try to intimidate you, raising his voice slightly.

“And you’re trying to slaughter the armies _I_ brought to Kourna and then awaken them and add them to _your_ troops. We seem to be at an impasse.”

“Do you remember when we first met?” Joko said.

The context for his question was lost on you at first, until you caught his meaning.

“The Domain Of The Lost - we were both trapped.”

“ _I_ was trapped!” Joko insisted. “ _You_ apparently just walked out and you ignored me! I offered you a deal - me, the God-King of Elona, deigning to work alongside a meandering, pathetic mortal!”

“Is all this about _that_?”

“I admit, my opinion of you has changed since then. But I did plan a _lot_ of torture. And since you insisted on intervening in my grand works but refused to be captured, I had to improvise.”

“And… here we are again. After all that.”

“You should have taken the deal.”

“I did not think you were going to honour it, to be perfectly honest, Mister God-King.”

In the ensuing pause, you noticed that Palawa Joko’s jewellery tended to clink together when he moved. It sounded faintly sinister.

“Somewhere that technically, nobody should ever come back from,” you mused, remembering the desolation and hopelessness that had replaced your identity in that realm. “And still, we both did.”

“Well, of course, _I_ did. And you… hmm. I don’t call you my nemesis lightly.”

“Should I be worried? That we have so much in common?” You were being facetious, but Joko chuckled. For once it didn’t actually sound menacing. “I stepped into your shoes after all. For a second I had the mantle of your empire at my disposal. I think Balthazar would say I was rather good at it.”

Now, you moved to look straight at the lich pinning you in. Joko wasn’t very readable, having leaned over you and stopped to listen. You refused to give any quarter in your expression.

“You would make a fine archon,” said Joko, voice bitter with the praise but not without threat either. “I’ll make you one. You’ll love being Awakened.”

As if the aspect of danger hadn’t been present right from the moment you’d talked to him-- sieged his fortress-- well, everything you’d ever done in your life before you’d even emerged from your pod - _now_ it settled on you just how deep you were. You were supposed to be killing him, the threat to everyone’s lives, the centuries-long oppressor of this blighted, ravaged region. You breathed. You calmed yourself. You had faced worse. You were doing fine so far.

Joko seemed to dim a little, leaning on his staff. Looking out over his towers of bone.

“So. Do you hate me?”

He gave you a look. A flicker of a gaze that acknowledged the absurdity of the question, but told you he was curious anyway. You thrilled a little at Joko’s admission that you had him pegged. Baiting his curiosity had an effect.

“Well. I thought I did,” you tried to answer. “All those refugees I tried to help get away, who couldn’t stand it any more. The brainwashing, the… children. Knowing that you didn’t want me to die too fast because you’ll… enjoy it. And what you did to Taimi… I didn’t just do this to stop you unleashing a scarab plague. I was on my way anyway because I would have done _anything_ to see you beg me for mercy.”

Your voice had built in emotion until, by the end, it reached an intensity that stunned you. You hadn’t meant…

“What was that you said, worrying that we have so much in common,” Joko drawled, leaning his hip against the balcony again while looking annoyingly smug.

It was time to try it. Now or never. This God-King needed to learn his place.

You finally made a move to close the gap between you. You matched Joko’s stance and faced him as an equal.

“I know I hate everything you did. I hate what you’ve done to everyone. You’re the latest item on a list of things that… things I can’t fix. And I hate that. But I don’t hate this.”

You stared him down. Your bright, glowing eyes into his cold, blue sockets. Joko released his staff, leaving it standing, and you closed the gap between the two of you completely. It was hard to keep control of this when he was so much taller than you. You reached for the scarabesque jewel design around his chest and played with the wrought gold. Tapping it, inspecting it, denying him any sense of intimidation.

“So you want to kill me, so you can awaken me, right? I doubt you’ve awakened a sylvari before.”

“I was…” you were close enough to follow Joko’s gaze clearly leaving your face as he shifted closer to you. “Looking forward to figuring that out.”

“Is that really what you want?”

He still hadn’t looked back up. Your veins glowed a little brighter as he took you in, a trait you doubted he would be able to interpret.

“Undoubtedly. You know what happens when I awaken a new body.” Joko reached for you. His hands held your upper arms, leathery against your rough bark. You were almost shaking. “Your form animates once more. You become part of the community. We become one. Why-- if you ever died and I wasn’t there to reap you I would kick myself.”

“What a charmer you are.”

“All your knowledge would flow into me. All your experiences. All the destruction you’ve caused becomes mine,” Joko seemed to swell with excitement as he imagined it. “In effect your _deeds_ become mine, because I remember doing them. And then you  _are_ mine.”

He leaned down to you. One hand left its clutch on your arm, instead holding your chin so your face could be turned for his inspection.

“I don’t believe you.”

“What?”

“You don’t really want me Awakened. Part of your mob. Nothing more than a collection trophy.”

“I want exactly that.”

“Nah. I think you’re missing something.”

There it was, you had him. For all his tactics to keep the upper hand, you saw him stare at you, waiting for your answer. He wanted to know. The lure had been too much. With this, only this, you could overpower him, and you held the sides of his hips and casually weighted him to the floor. Despite being able to cast your flimsy weight aside if he chose to, he did not. Joko sat with his back against the barricade, and you on his lap.

“When you had those people enchanted to look like me and you tortured them - it didn’t _quite_ work, did it? Wasn’t there something _missing_?”

Joko closed his mouth and you knew you had him pinned in more ways than one.

“I’m sure the visuals were perfect but the illusion…”

“...wasn’t complete! Those snivelling little maggots. They begged too easily. They just gave in.”

“They would’ve done anything you asked.”

“It wasn’t like you at all.”

“You don’t want that.”

The lich under you made your body sway as he laughed. “Can you really be so brazen?”

“You love it, don’t you.”

You already knew the answer, and you were sitting on it.

“You dare, Commander? You think I don’t wish to possess you? Own you to show to the world that nobody can _dare_ defy m--” You shifted your hips on his lap, rolling slightly. Joko made a noise between a groan and a growl. “...They were no challenge to me. No passion. No fire. Your eyes… your _real_ eyes… burn.”

You put one hand on his propped shoulder to lift yourself, up to his level, bouncing your eyebrows at him and then taking the end of the gold ring attached to his lip in your teeth, smirking.

His bout of curiosity fully unleashed, Joko egged you on. He explored the feel of your neck, your waist, your legs, from his place under you. Meanwhile you lowered with a tease of your own back onto his lap and fed your impulse on the increasingly eager series of expressions you saw on his face.

Your breath came quickly. Exhilaration flushed you, already at maximum, unable to believe what you were doing. Before anything had really happened you were panting out short moans by mistake. Joko had started grunting urgently with what you presumed was impatience. He had no inhibition that you could see, whereas you did, and were actively ignoring it.

Repeated shifts away from riding the crux of his legs allowed you to clear both your garments aside. Just a little, just enough. Then you were in business, pinning him down with more force as you moved him into just the right place, repeated motions driving you to hold on tightly.

Joko seemed to have checked out. His eyes had closed, he held you by the hips and grunted in obvious need when you bucked on him roughly. At least for a brief moment there was nothing else between the two of you at all. Just this. You knew you could do anything to him at this point. Leaning forward, you moved to get the best angle for yourself and took him as hard as you pleased. Harder breaths, harder gasps, the occasional attached moan of satisfaction.

“Hah… comets, Commander…” you heard him mutter.

“Ah... um…” your space for words was short, but you tried. “J… hah…”

Something in you wanted to say it. Solidify it. Prove what you were doing. You bit your lip and screamed it in your head instead.

Somewhere along the line you finished him, and you barely noticed until you’d gotten there yourself. His legs had pulled up against your back. You felt like you’d won.

Then you pulled yourself aside immediately, re-covering yourself as Joko did likewise, his eyes still shut.

Did you regret it? The first question across your mind as your senses returned.

No, was your first thought.

Hell no, was your second.

You were anxious and scared. You were a little confused. You were a lot of things. But something in you relished the total and utter decimation of the Scourge of Vabbi lying next to you, nearly unable to breathe, in a lust-addled stupor, and it wasn’t just the post-orgasmic tingles.

“Well, Commander,” Joko eventually said, “perhaps you might be right. No Awakened could do _that_.”

You beamed at him, for some reason.

“So. Are we still at that impasse?” he said a little more solemnly.

“Ah. Hm. Well, from the way I see it, you have a choice.”

“Hm.”

“You can stay in power and we have to fight you to stop the unleash of the plague, all that. Or you could chose change over power. Swap that out for a bit. Give us the control to make things different.”

“Do you honestly think,” Joko guffawed through his words, “that any of your companions are interested in letting me live?”

“Well they can’t… really do anything about that either way. Not alone.”

Joko stared at the floor. In his own time he picked himself up, straightening and patting himself back into proper regal place. You did likewise. Now that the rush was leaving you had no idea how to explain to anyone what you had done--

Faced with the drop from the balcony back down into the room below, you motioned and looked at Joko.

“Could you help me down?”

He disappeared.

In the room below you a font of tar bubbled him back into view, and several of his collected skulls began to float. At the right height they allowed you to step down each one, and as you wobbled, Palawa Joko stood at the base with a hand out to steady you, like an old timey gentleman would. You grinned. Stepping to the floor, your hand remained in his.

“Is it over?”

A familiar voice drew your attention to the wide open doors at the entrance. Rox had run in, along with--

“Commander! You should have seen it! Th--”

Taimi. The two of them stopped at the door, staring at you and Joko hand in hand, but barred by Braham, who collapsed to his knees as the immobilising spell encircling him disappeared. He pushed past Rox and Taimi, frantically covering his ears.

“No, oh dear spirits, no! Why!”


	2. The Solitude Of The Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't intending to add more to this, but some extra ideas came up. 
> 
> You have a few things to explain to your friends, and Joko's obsession makes him impatient.

“A word, Commander?”

Canach had caught up with you just as you reentered the encampment at Zelbahn village. Although discussions had happened along the way back, you hadn’t really been part of them, mostly left alone to your thoughts. Canach was the first to try and talk to you.

“Yes?”

“We’ll be having a Dragon’s Watch meeting - sort of a debrief - just to discuss the… situation.”

You involuntarily made a face.

“Oh, don’t worry,” of his two modes, flippant and horrendously sarcastic, Canach was in the former. “It’ll just be getting everyone up to speed. I’m sure you’ll have a great explanation for what Braham says… happened.” No, wait, the other one. Sarcastic.

The troops were dispersing. A building now serving as a makeshift infirmary accepted various hobbling soldiers of all types minus the ghosts you had allied with. You saw Faren taken in there, still dictating instructions to be ‘observed during his convalescence’.

After your friends had burst in, in the crown chamber of the fortress, they’d all seen you standing together with Palawa Joko. One by one, they’d dashed towards the group brimming with encouraging news, only to clock the lich at your side and stop. And Joko did nothing, apparently enjoying this process, before he dissolved into tar in front of them all and disappeared. Making sure they all knew what they were dealing with, and landing you squarely in a sea of confusion.

Best not to keep your guild waiting.

Five people, including you, surrounded a rough old table in one of Zelbahn’s lesser used buildings. Dim, square, with clay walls and nothing adorning them.

Rox and Rytlock on opposite ends, two big charr that both took up a lot of space. Braham next to you, not looking in a talkative mood. And Canach, the usually prickly fellow sylvari who, right now, was the only one even slightly at ease. You noticed your companions seemed reluctant to look at you. Also, it felt incomplete - Taimi was missing.

“So, from what I understand,” you began, “the threat of third generation scarabs was completely averted?”

“We got that from Taimi and Gorrik, yes,” said Rox. “thanks to the ghost army repressing it we were able to stop the spread, and we only have the earlier generation, the less contagious bugs to clean up.”

“It was almost a complete victory,” said Rytlock, terse.

“That _is_ a victory, Rytlock,” you leaned forward. “We came here to stop the manifestation of the plague and we did.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“I feel you’re not entirely happy with that.”

“Is this it?” said Braham. “Is this when we’re gonna have to talk about it?”

“Yes. All right. I did not kill Joko. I didn’t actually fight him. We had absolutely no idea if it’s possible-”

“You were right there in the same room with that lich and you didn’t _try_ ?!” growled Rytlock. “Braham says you _talked_ to that insufferable corpse.”

Canach coughed into his hand. “And more besides.”

“I was _on my own_. I’ve faced a lot of threats with Dragon’s Watch, but this? I got the feeling a one-on-one fight was exactly what Joko wanted-”

Canach coughed again. “And more besides.”

“And he has a vendetta against me. It felt like falling into a trap.”

“So you just… _talked_ to him?” said Rox.

“Yeah, mostly,” Braham offered, folding his arms. “It was a good distraction, I’ll give it that. That guy really can’t help talking about himself.”

“We need a plan,” you tried to get eye contact with your comrades and hold your usual steadfast tone. “He’s been killed before and he’s been contained - nothing’s stuck. We’ve got a lot of power in our ranks now, but that might not be enough when we’re dealing with a lich.”

“I think the Commander’s right,” said Rox, which filled you with gratitude to hear. “There’s more to this than brute force. We’ve stopped the plague experiments for now, burned all the research. The Olmakhan want revenge for what the Awakened Inquest were doing, but they’d know better than to run into a problem blind.”

“And Rytlock,” you tried to get his attention, though he looked grumpy. “I do know what Joko wanted. To Awaken me, get me on his side and use me as his personal weapon. And the same goes for all of you. If any one of us falls alone, we’ll be meeting again on opposing sides. We have to face this together - I distracted Joko to stop him doing that to me if I fought him alone.”

“Mnnnm. Fine,” the charr said through gritted teeth. “You could’ve taken that chance, but fine.”

“Sometimes we don’t manage the right judgements when we don’t know exactly what we’re up against. Like, you know, when you were in the Mists? Something about a sword, and-”

“Okay, okay! I said fine! Forget it,” he snarled at you, but in that harmless pouty way, and left his chair. “Let’s just keep trying.”

The curtain across the doorway flipped with Rytlock’s exit.

You sighed, slumping in your chair.

“I have to say I was a little surprised, Commander,” said Canach, softly and calming in the room’s frazzled atmosphere. “For once not taking the risk for glory.”

“Some of the things Joko said made me rethink my own ego, if I’m honest. And besides… the Order of Shadows has been working on Joko for years and they don’t think he should be taken out without _something_ ready to handle the consequences. What’d happen to the Awakened, those devoted nobles in Vabbi? How in Tyria do we start mending a regime ingrained for hundreds of years?”

You breathed out slowly.

“I think you should rest, Commander,” said Rox. “We still have time. And we did just save humanity from another plague. Maybe keeping Joko, uh… distracted… from invading us until we answer those questions… well, we gained more than we lost, at any rate.”

She trailed off, and got up to follow Rytlock’s lead. You gave her a weak salute goodnight. At least that was one person who gave you some credit.

“So…” Canach was smirking. You shot him a look. “Oh, Commander, I’m the last person who’s going to judge you for your choices. Baffling as they may be. In fact I’d like to commend you for _not_ leaping into some desperate fight to the death.”

“That’s nice. Thank you. Although I sense you’re trying very hard not to crack some kind of… indiscreet joke at my expense…”

“Oh, no. No. Well, I suppose you leapt into _something_ desperate…”

“Please!” Braham interjected.

“Right. Well. Actually, Commander, I just have one concern. We all know Joko’s ability to sway people to his side. Plenty of living humans out there who hang on his every decrepit word. I want to know he hasn’t… _gotten_ to you somehow.”

“I swear, Canach,” you looked your fellow sylvari in the eye with a familiar solidarity. “I’m in full control of myself. I know how important it is to stop Joko, it’s just… he knows how to pull an audience.”

Canach accepted that with a click of his tongue. “Well. Fair enough. Now excuse me, I have some personal matters to settle.”

“Oh? Like what?”

“A bet,” he said, slipping quickly beyond the curtain.

“What? Wait, what’d you bet on, Canach?” you yelled after him. “What did you bet on?!”

With a long, weary, sighed chuckle, you slumped onto the end of the table. Braham was hiding his laughter. At least he found it funny. There were worse ways he could be treating you.

“Braham?”

“Mmm?”

“I’m. I apologise. For what you had to… experience today.”

“Yeah, thanks.” You noticed he didn’t sound too bitter, despite not saying much during the meeting. “I’m tough, I’ll be okay, y’know.”

“I actually thought you might be angrier. You were the one who wanted to take Joko down the most.”

He propped his chin on one hand. “Yeah, I did. I couldn’t-- _can’t_ wait to get my hands on him and tear him into pieces. But I wasn’t gonna get to do it today anyway. So, the way I see it, this way I get another chance. Next time we do this, I’ll be right there-” Braham pulled back his fist and slammed a punch into his other hand. “I’ll get the glory, not just you. Plus, hey! I got to do a cool hero thing.”

You laughed. You hadn’t felt like laughing much today, but realising Braham wasn’t holding a huge grudge released tension you only just noticed you had.

After saying goodnight, you had only one thing left to do.

“Taimi?”

You climbed the steps to the balcony where those three asura had made their makeshift workshop and beetle study. Some of the equipment glowed, showing Taimi’s little body in the dark, staring down at some spare parts.

“...Hey, Commander.”

Her hair fell past her shoulder, obscuring her face. It still looked odd to you that she didn’t tie it back any more.

“Hey. Uh. Are you all right.”

“I don’t know. Are _you_ all right? I heard what… happened.”

You sat down on the top step. It seemed polite to give her some space.

“I’m still a little shocked, but yes, I’m fine. You didn’t want to...um. ...Are you avoiding me?”

Taimi sighed, set down what she was tinkering with, and let you see the glare in her eyes.

“How could you? How can you just _hang out_ with Joko after what he did to me?”

“Because I was terrified,” you answered immediately.

The little asura approached you, her bright orange eyes questioning. She was slow, taking care on her bad leg.

“Turns out Joko is weirdly obsessed with me. You… didn’t have your communicator on while fighting, did you?”

“No. I had to concentrate and forgot about it…”

“I’m glad you didn’t hear it. Braham and I found a dungeon full of identical copies of me.”

Taimi choked in horror. “Ew! That’s disgusting! How’d he do that?”

“Centuries old illusion magic. I felt… violated, and those poor people…”

“But I don’t get it, why did you just let him…”

You let out a deep breath. “You know what happened when we had to use your machine to make Primordus and Jormag dormant again, to _save_ them, even though it went against everything we thought we were fighting for?”

“......Oh.”

“Joko turns everything I do into a new title for himself. Maybe, for once, I just didn’t want to be _that_ hero.”

Taimi sat down beside you on the step. It was a warm night in the desert. From your platform you could see the wall of vines separating you from Joko’s fortress, the only peace of mind that allowed everyone to sleep. The asura leaned against your leg.

“It’s always a bit more complicated than just ‘slaying a dragon’.”

“Taimi, remember when we were investigating Scarlet? You were so excited to find her research and--”

“And get a once-in-a-lifetime shot at following the work of a genius! Yeah!”

“Well, it’s sort of like that. I don’t think I understood your perspective at the time. And now…”

“Oh. Ohhh. Yeah. I think I understand.”

“It’s not that I respect Joko’s intelligence like that, but… I want more information. And…”

“And it’s not like I didn’t know Scarlet was _bad_!” I was still helping to stop her, I just - okay, yeah, I get it. But, Commander? Remember, Joko’s… way over 500 years old. And you’re…”

“Going to be six next month.”

Taimi laughed. “Now, I’m not saying he’s _smarter_ than you, but… he’s had a lot of time to be prepared. You gotta be careful. Don’t let him into your head.”

“What I did to him today? _That_ surprised him. I know it. And if I keep pulling off things he’s not prepared for, we can control the situation.”

“All right. All right, Commander,” at least, Taimi sounded a little softer to you, the way she normally did. You almost wanted to scoop her into a hug, but held off the urge. She hated being messed with because of her size, and she wasn’t really a child any more. “I’m going to bed. G’night.”

You waved her off as the little prodigy yawned. It was beyond time for you to get some sleep, especially after what you’d been through today. At the bottom of the clay steps you paused. Something had twitched at your feet, barely visible in the dusk.

You held completely still until the thing moved again. A skeleton of a chicken, silent and eyeless. Giant, empty sockets staring out into the night. Clearly Awakened. You crushed the chicken with your boot until its bones were powder.

 

You rose at dawn. Sluggish, stumbling, but knowing it would be hard to get more sleep with everything going through your head. With the whole night spent assuaging the fears of your closest companions, you really needed a little time by yourself.

No note, and no communicator, you headed straight for the stables to saddle your raptor, who was glad to see you and tried to lick your face. No judgements whatsoever. Fine company.

The sun had barely risen as you bucked the raptor into a run and sped over the bridge out of town, heading north.

There was no ultimate destination. You flanked a swamp to your right after the makeshift little town had disappeared behind you. Just being unreachable sounded good for now. Virtually nothing lay ahead. The rise and fall of dunes and the occasional dead tree. It really was a wasteland in Kourna, and you couldn’t see why humans and hylek still attempted to live here.

Tired of wilting in your saddle from the heat, you pulled the raptor towards what looked like some long lost buildings. Old houses from an age past, mostly buried in the sand.

“Okay boy,” you stroked your raptor’s neck as you dismounted. “Don’t go too far.”

You checked around to make sure no dust mites were blowing your way, then climbed up the side of a fallen building. It barely rose out of the ground. And you sighed. The stress of the war ached in your unrested limbs. You watched your raptor from your little vantage point and sat down there. The inquisitive creature snuffled around in some grasses on the covered side of a dune, and looked up periodically to check you were still nearby.

Further out, you saw an enormous mound of sculpted stone mostly claimed by the desert. An old Joko statue. Face down, covered up to the shoulders.

You picked up a pebble by your seated spot, perhaps part of the old structure, and after a moment, flung it as hard as you could towards the fallen monument.

Then you picked up another one.

“Why do I make everything so--” you hurled the rock, “ _difficult_.” And picked up another.

“Why do I have to be everybody’s moral _compass._ ”

“Everyone else fucks up but when I fuck up, it’s the _end of the fucking world_ \--”

The crunch of footsteps on sand silenced you. Then you heard your raptor snarl, heading towards you, and you held up your hands to placate him.

“No, it’s okay, boy. He’s with me.”

Approaching you was the _real_ Palawa Joko, watching as you tossed the last stone at his massive destroyed replica.

“Busy?” he said.

“Not particularly.”

After a pause that you might even have said was amiable, you gestured to the half-buried statue.

“It’s you.”

“You’re throwing things at it.”

“Just… frustrated. Thinking about mistakes. I suppose…”

“I wouldn’t know, Commander, I’ve never made a mistake in my entire life.”

In an attempt to seem aloof, you were trying not to look at stare at him. You allowed yourself a peek without turning your head. In the bright light of day Joko was different from the one you’d stared down in the dark of his palace. Less intimidating, more regal. And harder on the senses, showing his age.

“I assume you heard the discussions last night,” you said, finished taking him in.

A creepy laugh followed by a shake of his shoulders. “Too old for you, am I?”

You failed to answer that, as your mouth went dry knowing for sure that he was still infiltrating your privacy.

“We… need to establish some rules about this.”

Joko leaned against the building you were sitting on, waiting for you to continue. Waiting to hear your directions. Him. Joko.

“My people are going to fortify themselves in the garrison behind the vine wall. I’m going to instruct them to defend it but not invade more of Gandara’s territory. If you’ll do likewise.”

You couldn’t tell how comfortable Joko was with bargaining. He seemed blank, but answered. “I’ll withhold Awakened forces to the Gandara side of your little wall. Although it’s rather flimsy, I might add some bones to my side of it. I’m very good with walls.”

What were you _doing_. Successfully negotiating with him? With a tyrant and a monster? You’d managed to put a lot of what happened yesterday out of your mind until now, but hearing that raw, otherworldly tone in Joko’s voice brought it all back.

“Bones interwoven with vines? Huh. That’s not thematic or anything…”

“Of our truce, you mean?” Joko smirked.

“Yes. That. Not anything else. A-and, uh… I want your spies removed. There’s no more tactical info you need, let my side have privacy. If you want to talk to me just do it through one of the statues.”

Every moment you expected him to laugh at you and say you were insane. But Joko nodded, tapping his fingers on his staff.

“Fair,” he turned to you with a preoccupied glint in his eye. “And in return…”

“In return we’ll arrange… visits. And don’t you come north of the wall unless I can keep tabs on you.”

“As long as it’s _soon_ ,” Joko said, bluntly.

“Soon?”

“I won’t be taking any more prisoners to torture in your stead, not now that I’ve had a _taste_ of the real thing. And I don’t feel like visiting my betrothed in the Desolation, either, not as long as we have an… arrangement. Just something to keep in mind.”

You forgot how to speak. Joko was making himself exclusive to you. You tried not to be flattered, and yet you shuddered with warmth. You’d really done a number on him yesterday. And as you’d thought, your defiance had caught his interest.

As long as you agreed to this, you’d be saving people from him.

“Um. Right. Right. Okay.” If he was being open about his inclinations, you didn’t have to hide it either. “Then tonight. If the Awakened pull back and there aren’t any spies. Don’t let anyone see you.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Joko smiled. He leaned closer to you, too far into your personal space. “I’m very concerned about your reputation, as I’m sure you can tell.”

Joko’s leering made it even clearer what he wanted. You were sure your flustering at his attention gratified him as well. When you didn’t reply, he took your arm and brought it towards him, examining the bark that he could see.

“I’ve Awakened so many… thousands of humans,” he seemed lost in the inspection. “And a few centaurs. And I’m bored of asura already. Similar. And eventually, dull. But _this_?” His attention moved to your shoulder and torso. “This is fascinating. Do you even _have_ organs? What makes the veins glow? Do you have--”

His hand moved south, and you smacked him away quickly.

“Tonight.”

The lich did not like being opposed, but your promise of getting what he wanted had him pacified for now. Joko’s head tilted as though hearing something and he let you go.

“Very well, Commander. Until then.”

Something had appeared on the horizon, two black figures moving towards you. You stood up to see better and, on turning back for Joko, realised he had completely gone. The figures were riding raptors and turned out to be Rox and Canach when they got closer.

Your friends pulled their steeds up in the shade of the sunken buildings.

“Please don’t be mad, Commander.”

“Rox? Why would I be?”

“Well, because we obviously followed you,” said Canach. “Saw you leave this morning and didn’t want you to get into any new trouble by yourself.”

“Ah.”

“It was just to make sure nothing happened, I swear,” Rox patted her fidgeting raptor’s shoulder.

“It’s… fine. Really. I don’t mind. If something _had_ happened I’d be glad of you two being around to help. I only came out to clear my head, anyway.”

Your companions shared a look, but apparently one of relief. You called your raptor and joined them for the ride back.

“By the way,” Canach called over the bluster of your mounts’ speed, “I thought I saw someone with you when we approached, was it--”

“Yes.”

“Oh. Okay. That’s normal. This is a very normal thing you’re doing.”

At least having them joke about it was better than outright distrust.

 

You would’ve gone to bed early that night even if you hadn’t made your arrangement earlier. Only sheer nervous energy was keeping you awake. You hadn’t seen a single Awakened all day, and you’d overheard some of the corsairs recalled into the safety of the village that they hadn’t seen any either. Perhaps, somehow, this might actually work.

Still, you acted like you were merely retiring for the evening. Undressed down to your leafy undergarments, tucked under a thin sheet in your personal quarters of a repurposed Zelbahn house. You had very few possessions here, just your weapons and extra accessories against one wall, and the standard you were trying to put together in the corner.

It was quiet enough for you to start dropping off, and then you felt a chill cut through the room.

“...Hey, Joko,” you said without moving. He clinked as he drew up to the side of your bed, in full regalia. Hands neatly behind his back. “So you can just do that?” It felt odd to be so intentionally helpless around him. “Just make it really cold whenever you want?”

The lich king laughed, slowly, piercing you with his cold blue eyes. Only they, and his shining adornments, showed up well in the gloom. “Oh, my apologies. Let’s warm things up.”

In tandem he pulled himself on to you as you sat up, shedding the bedsheet. Just as suddenly as he’d pounced Joko stalled, eyeing your chest and stomach, and he hissed.

“ _Look_ at that. It’s a miracle that you _work_.”

You rolled your eyes. Joko wasn’t done yet, leaning in to trace your more prominent veins upwards from your hip. In the dead of night, you were the only illumination in the room, glowing with unashamed vivacity.

“You’re thinking about Awakening me, aren’t you.”

“You’re making me, you little minx. You’d have to follow my every order… my magic would infuse your very blood. Or… whatever you have.” He shifted, impatient.

“I’m not under your control,” you beamed at him, knowing how impertinent you were being, with the God-King of Elona on top of you. “Get used to it.”

“Maybe not.” Joko leered in closer, hampering your smile. “But you’re going to learn to venerate my name as if you were. Aloud this time. I do like a good show.”

All you could do was gasp. Your legs were nudged apart, and Joko held one of them under your knee to keep you spread-eagled. He was rough in taking you, seemingly without a care except for burying himself as deep as possible. He held you down, groaning already, as if achieving something he’d been denied for eons, not a single day.

“Oh, put your hand over your mouth,” he said, gruff and gutteral. “I don’t want anyone interrupting, thinking that I’m killing you. Well, not until I’m done, at least.”

“Mm-mmm!” you hated to oblige him, but you were already doing it. The cocky bastard had you at his mercy and was only interested in satisfying himself, but _damn_ if you didn’t want to scream. He was too eager, fast-paced, losing no time in getting what he wanted, and you’d been so alert and ready for this, it got you going just the same. You gasped deep for air as he moved and quashed delighted moans with your clamped hands.

“Look at this. You _wanted_ it, didn’t you? I knew you were a useless bleeding heart but I didn’t realise you were this _sappy_.”

Your eyes widened and your hand pulled away. “Don’t joke about that!” you fixed him with a glare. “Ah-- don’t ever joke about that! Ghnmm--”

He wasn’t even doing it for your benefit and yet centuries of practice had made him _good_ , and that was annoying, you noted in the tiny part of your mind that wasn’t getting deliriously pleasured.

In spite of it all, you found it difficult to look at him, but when you did, it was surprisingly welcome with his heavy, lost gaze and slightly demurely bitten lip.

“Ngh… see, Commander… where’s - all - that - impudence - now?”

...Okay, he’d gone far enough.

Your wrenched your legs free and pulled him down. His legs weren’t the most stable and he came off balance easily, allowing you to quickly shove Joko onto his back and roll on top, making his lap your seat. You tested the position by rolling your hips onto him. He arched under you, groaning in desperation and the loss of speed.

“Oh, come on!”

“Do you know who I am?”

You were panting, but able to control your noises now that you also controlled the pace. Joko regarded you with gritted teeth. Not humouring you, but not doing a thing to throw you off.

“The slayer of two dragons,” you managed between breaths. “The one who felled a God. Herald of the Pale Tree. Knight of the Thorn. Champion of Glint’s Second Scion. _I have my own titles_.”

The lich underneath you squirmed. The continued obliging bounce of your hips wasn’t fast enough for his taste. To make him keep still you pressed a hand to his neck. Your grip was not gentle. Hey, there was no possible way you’d kill him.

“You think I’m-- haahh-- easy to read, don’t you. I’m the plucky hero and you… you take credit for the things I do. You said it yourself. I haven’t been a good hero. The world’s only g… gotten less stable. Maybe I don’t _want_ to be one.”

Joko had gone still, staring, in awe at the strength you applied to his neck. Months of built-up frustration had just bubbled to the surface, and you let its heat thrum in your body right alongside your primal need.

“Co-- … mmander…”

“What if I’m no hero, Joko? What - if - I - don’t - want - to - be--”

A shudder rocked you, shifting your body’s rhythm. Something desperately hot blossomed in your core. Molten and sticky. It took all your focus not to cry out, and the height of the moment reached you too, making you withdraw your hands to cover your face and catch the shouts you made.

The depth of that release near ruined you. Your eyes stayed closed, whimpering with little bursts as you rode it out. The air seemed too thick to breathe. The grunts from your partner indicated a similarly intense set of spasms.

And as soon as you were free of that you pulled to separate and rolled aside. Leaning your body, heavy with exertion, into the comfort of a pillow. Your ears were ringing. Despite that, you thought you heard Joko mutter a very faint, “...fuck.”

You felt numb, weak, and emotionally raw. All you were capable of was calming yourself, waiting for the rush to subside and the conscious plane to pick you up. It took minutes before you settled, and you still had Joko beside you, going through the same.

The sight of him there was still almost too bizarre to comprehend. Eventually you recovered enough energy to break the silence.

“Do you… sleep?”

He chuckled, quietly. “No. I forget what having to do that was like. It lets me be _much_ more productive.”

A fond grin crept up on you. “That’s the fun of talking to you, I suppose. Anything you say is probably a lie. Can’t trust a word.”

“What are you talking about.”

“Who blessed the mortal races with magic?”

“Oh, I did. Joko The Eternal Monarch gifted magic to the five races of the world when he deemed them worthy of serving him.”

It made you laugh, the distant way he talked about himself. “Right. Even us sylvari, who didn’t exist until…”

“...When was it?”

“Around 30 years ago.”

“Still me.”

“Joko,” you boffed him with one hand.

“And if I told you,” he continued in his wistful tone, “that _despite my victory_ at the Battle of Jahai, I was bound into a tomb and buried, sealed, for two hundred years…” you picked your head up a little to look at him. “Trapped with nothing but hatred as I was drained of all power. Two hundred years. Weak, desolate. And then, after being betrayed and locked in the Domain of the Lost, I thought it would happen again. Brought down to nothing. Centuries of loneliness. Until I saw you.”

His hand gestured vaguely with his words, and he stared at that. The silence lingered.

“More made-up manipulations of a dedicated fraud.”

“ _Exactly_.”

There was no avoiding how tired you’d become. You had no will for consciousness left. Some shifting from the other side of the bed was barely noticed before sleep took over, and it wasn’t until daybreak that you were able to think over what Joko had said. Regardless, there was no trace of him by morning.


	3. Eyes Close And Heartbeats Slow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey. Guess what I thought of more stuff. Again. It was too fun not to write. 
> 
> Also, I got lovely fanart for the last chapter, please check it out [here](https://femboy-fatale.tumblr.com/post/176150236716/oh-commander-im-the-last-person-whos-going-to)!

You slept through the entire morning and into the afternoon, marking the beginning of a period of calm that was in short supply in your life. After the two days in which you’d assaulted the Moon Fortress it seemed unbelievably slow as you dealt with the cleanup. Making the process even smoother were the lack of attacks and infiltrations by Awakened servants. The allied garrison secured its supply lines, brought in enough food for its soldiers, and began shifting its surplus in the direction of the single human settlement nearby, in substantial recoil from the threat of scarabs. The suffering of the people still under Joko’s regime alleviated in a very small way. The grip, once an iron stranglehold, had softened to let people breathe.

You were on hand to direct the troops as you saw fit. The injured could recover in safety and there was little immediate need for reinforcements. The army of Primeval ghosts, having seen their duty to contend the scarab plague resurgence fulfilled, returned to watch over their little corner of desert history. Everyone else remained. Prepared to face the threat head on, and settle down on watch in front of an undead overlord’s main tactical base. Even humans, who’d heard the threat had lessened and were eager to make a stand of their own. Ships were coming from Lion’s Arch to restore links to Elona lost for centuries. Some who had lived under Joko and fled to Amnoon turned around and prepared to resist. There was a changed atmosphere now that the menace had been faced and thwarted - that the lich king could be resisted, that opposing him was possible, and sufficient numbers had already massed to start his downfall.

You hadn’t realised this might happen when you stormed the gates. You’d considered it all or nothing. What you’d done was show the world that Joko’s will was not absolute. It became all the more convincing when his forces were restrained and, true to his word, the dividing wall between the living and the dead remained respected by both sides.

As stability ensued, you finally let the front line manage itself and took yourself back to Amnoon. The necrotic ash in Kourna’s air had worn on your senses. You had a home away from home in Amnoon; being the city’s commended protector had earned you a free, modest, yet comfortable living space in a residential tower. For them, a small price to pay for the sense of security that came with hosting a hero of your calibre.

The bustle and general level of _safety_ took a couple of days to get used to after the war campaign. And through all this, you saw and heard nothing from Joko.

For the best, you knew. He was definitely capable of contacting you if he felt like it, even outside his general domain. You needed a little time to better process what had happened. And from his silence, you’d guess that he needed the same thing. Whatever was going on between you was hard to define, but it seemed certain that neither party had anticipated the _near affectionate_ accidental chatter tended to emerge after… the rest of it. And as mortifying as that was on your part, you were sure Joko hadn’t meant to end up as comfortable with you as he had.

A little distance was good. But you were very aware he could turn up and demand your attention any time, and before he did that, you really needed to talk to someone about it. It was a risk, but you didn’t want the lack of a second opinion to result in you getting manipulated.

So you sought out the northern edge of the city where you knew one of your companions was staying in the aftermath of the advance on Gandara. In a dusty but less used street, covered by colourful awnings, you found her.

“Taimi! Now, you know I love you, right…”

She fixed you with a wry look, poring over some vials and labels you expected were scarab related.

“Now, that’s what _I_ say when I want you to do something.”

“I know. Like when you wanted me to come and put in a good word for Gorrik when his plague experiments got him arrested?”

“Precisely… yes.”

“And remember when you had me rescue Gorrik and Blish in the first place despite them being Inquest?”

“Oooof course I do, Commander,” she chirped.

“And when you convinced me to help you locate Rata Novus, and you ended up salvaging their dragon research?”

“Yeah, uh… what’s this about? Y’need a favour or something?”

“Yes. Well, advice.”

“Oh!” Taimi set down her equipment and brought you her full attention. Apparently she was surprised at being sought out for advice without tipping off first that she had new information to share. “Well, sure. But…”

“Specifically. Advice from someone who has asked me to put my trust in them many times. For questionable decisions that ended up justifying the risk.”

She sighed. “This is about Joko, isn’t it.”

“...Yeah.”

Suddenly she was more reluctant. “Why me? You know I’m the least likely person to want anything to do with…”

“Because. Like I said, you know when to ask for my trust. I’m asking for yours.”

“...Okay.”

“He tried to kill you. I will never forgive that, or anything else Joko’s done. I just…” you sighed with a bit more desperation in it than you wanted. “I have some things I need to sort out.”

After a pause, Taimi nodded. She obviously got the seriousness of the situation. The two of you moved to the edge of the city and beyond, roads turning into sand. Taimi was slow without her golem, and you matched her pace, in no rush to go anywhere.

“Of course he has to admit that he’s lying about what he says he’s done, when it’s me,” you said. “Because he’s taking credit for things _I_ did. Even though hundreds of humans out there think he saved them from Zhaitan, and so on…”

“And… does that bother you?”

“It… no. When it’s deceiving people, yes, it’s hard to take. When it’s just us it doesn’t. Wouldn’t it make more sense if it _was_ Joko going around slaughtering elder dragons, throwing the world’s innate magic off balance?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Maybe I wish he _had_ done those things instead of me. For me, it’s a mistake, for him, it’s a feather in a cap.”

“Commander. Clearly he only brings that up to put you in an inferior position. Tch. I mean, for one thing, those ‘mistakes’ were a group effort! And none of your _friends_ see it that way!”

The two of you stood in the shade of a pillar from a structure long since past. You felt light enough now to manage a fond grin.

“This is why I’m worried that what I’m doing is going to give Joko free reign to mess with me.”

“Then… look, sorry for asking, but why do it at all?”

“He stopped attacking us, Taimi. He’s holding off and that buys us time. Just because I told him to.”

“In exchange for what?”

You clenched your teeth. You’d been afraid of that part. “Well. I. Spend time with him.”

“Look, I’m trying to understand. Promise. I know you probably want to talk to me about it ‘cause of how I was with Scarlet.”

“Scarlet had a completely unique viewpoint on the world, she was incredibly successful, and for a while she seemed completely unstoppable.”

“And that’s how you feel about Joko.”

“I don’t have to be okay with anything he’s done to want to know why he’s done it.”

Taimi kicked at the ground and shook her head. Her hair flowed gracefully now when she moved. “Commander… no offense, but did you want advice, or to remind me about Scarlet so I’d have to approve of what you’re doing?”

You bit your lip. “I… genuinely want you to tell me if what I’m doing is so insane that it’ll just be my next huge mistake.”

“I guess that’s up to Joko. And what _he_ wants out of it.”

“Without being too specific? I can’t say it seems malicious. He’s curious about sylvari because we’re different, and he seems to have gotten tired of what he’s used to. He might even be tired of _everything_.”

“Joko wanting anything _not_ malicious sounds unlikely, but-- please tell me you don’t believe he can _change_ if you work on him…”

“No!” you looked at her, ashamed that she might suggest it. “Absolutely not. Nothing can stop us from needing him _gone_. I just hope me being _a diversion_ isn’t…”

“A secret ploy against you? I dunno. Is there any way of getting you vulnerable to attack that you haven’t been already?”

“Haha. Um. No.”

“Then maybe Joko’s just being… Joko.”

The two of you watched a gust whip some sand into an eddy but peter out when it hit a dune. A couple of sand eels nearby twisted silkily through the ground.

“I don’t know, Commander. I don’t think there’s a way to be sure about this. And if you asked me whether you should _trust_ Joko, of course I’d say _no_ , but…”

You leaned towards her, putting your hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry. I don’t think I should have expected you to… I mean, I probably shouldn’t have--”

“No, you know what? It’s okay. I’m… kind of glad you trust me. And that you want my advice.”

“Thank you. And thanks for not… completely understandably telling me to just try to kill him whether it works or not.”

“Believe me, I’ve been researching how to kill liches permanently for a while now. Thing is there’s a big lack of test subjects for any theories on that front. And it’s way easier to _bind_ one and seal it, but I don’t think that’s the solution anyone wants this time around.”

“Y’know, he told me he was lonely,” you said, frowning.

“Huh?”

“After w-- uh, we were just… talking. And he told me about being sealed up for two hundred years. Said it was unbearably lonely. I imagine that might remove any ability to empathise a person once had, if any. As long as that wasn’t another lie.”

“Yeah. Scarlet lost that too. Somehow. They were normal people once, I guess. Egomaniacal and beyond reason.”

“I’d kill my worst enemy, sure,” you pondered, “but I wouldn’t wish being bound alive for two hundred years on anyone.”

It was quiet, and you continued thinking until you noticed Taimi’s ears twitch and realised she hadn’t responded because she’d come to a conclusion.

“That’s it! Commander!” she jumped and waved her arms. “He’s trying to get you to pity him! You feel _sorry_ for him!”

“No I don’t! Do I?”

“Sure sounds like you do. Of _course_ \- what’s your most important tablet thingy?”

“What?”

“The teachings!”

“Oh. I-- all th--,” you paused, rubbing your hands on your face. “All things have a right to grow.”

“Exactly. So, obviously, you’d see the best in anyone. Focus on anything good. Even make excuses for them.”

You stumbled to pick a way to deny this. But you really couldn’t, and Taimi didn’t actually sound accusatory. She was ecstatic.

“But Joko doesn’t _know_ this,” you finally said.

“Of course not. It’s just a trait I guess he’s figured out. Not that you’ll forgive, but that you’re willing to try and understand him.”

You stared at the ground. The heat was uncomfortable now. This made a lot of sense, and you groaned, imagining Taimi’s disappointment in you for being weak like that--

“Hey. Hey! That’s a good thing, Commander.”

You looked up. “What?”

“Joko’s obviously not capable of empathy. But _you are_ ,” she said gently, tapping your leg and giving you an encouraging smile. “So much of it that you want him to have some! There’s no bigger difference between the two of you!”

Finally, some of the weight that had settled in you ever since you’d first confronted Joko shifted. It had been days. You rubbed your eyes, letting that idea take root inbetween the similarities Joko had brought to light.

“...Yeah,” you breathed. “You’re right.”

“And you know what else?” Taimi continued, looking rather pleased with herself.

“What?”

“This is good news. _Very_ good news.”

“Why! Why’s that?”

“Becaaauuuuse,” Taimi grinned, now drawing it out, “why do you think he wants your pity? Why would he need you feeling sorry for him if he’s all powerful? ...Because he’s not. He’s _worried_ , don’t you get it, Commander - he wants you on his side so you can’t kill him, and _that_ means, he totally, definitely _can_ be killed!”

 

You chatted together with the asura as the sun set, discussing ways that you might bend the ability to sneak more incriminating information out of Joko when you saw him. You had to hand it to Taimi - it was a relief that she saw the value in the risk of entertaining him after she’d made that one discovery. You knew it was a good idea to pick her to talk to, with her unconventional methods that justified the means.

You spent another day in Amnoon enjoying the relative tranquility, the general easiness, of a safe bastion far removed from war. The comparison of an oasis in a desert had often crossed your mind but you hadn’t quite managed to make a pun out of it to anyone. The stalls were busy and fun to browse, and it was easy to lose track of time gazing at merchandise. The only downside being having a stranger stop you every other step to ask if you, really, were them, were you the hero of etc etc, how great it was to meet you, and so on.

These humans would have been staring at a sylvari either way, unfamiliar as they were, so you couldn’t blame it all on fame.

It was a normal part of life, you’d adjusted to it by now. Passing down the street amid the cries of vendors and heated scents of food, glances haunted you as you passed, no escape from it. Recognition, surprise, wariness. Eyes that were brown, grey, hazel, black… deep, sunken blue.

Wait.

“You!”

You launched at the man on instinct, seizing him by his collar. Gripping like an animal grips prey.

“Whoa!”

“Hey, what--”

Murmurs of confusion stirred the air as those around you were knocked slightly aside, but the humans shrugged, knowing who you were, and deigned not to interfere. You dragged the man in your clutches around the stalls, taking the first exit off the street and thumping his back against the wall.

“Wh-what’s going on?” he pleaded. “Did I do something…”

“What are you _doing_ here?” you hissed.

“I don’t understand! I…”

You glared at the man, not letting your grip loosen for a moment, fixing his eyes, his incredibly blue eyes, with absolute derision.

“I know it’s you.”

“Are y… you the Commander?” he swallowed, and fidgeted with his fingers. You waited. You refused to move. He seemed terrified. “What-- what did I do--” you glanced down - his gesture wasn’t nervous, but deliberate - the air fractured around him - his voice changed pitch in the middle of his words, hitting a low and sluggish drawl - “to deserve such treatment?”

You were holding the towering Palawa Joko. Taller, wizened, tar seeping from his mantle. He waited for a second to see if you’d react, then tilted his head.

“Quite impressive, even I’ll admit that. I wasn’t even trying to get your attention.”

“Hnh.” You grunted, displeased but vindicated, and let him go with a bit of a push.

“What possibly gave me away?”

“It’s not easy to forget eyes that’ve looked at you and wanted you dead.”

“I’m-- well, I’m flattered.”

“What are you _doing here_?” you demanded, glancing back at the street. “In Amnoon! Where it’s supposed to be s-”

“Safe? Ha!” Joko dusted himself off after the way you’d scuffed him. “There is no ‘safety’ from the divine reach of Palawa Joko.”

“If anyone knows you’re here there’ll be a riot!”

“Now, I had a perfectly sound disguise established until you came over and forced me to take it off.”

Only then did the panic abate enough for your curiosity to emerge.

“...How did you do that?”

Joko held up his hand. One ring was distinct from the others, and resembled the one you’d found in the fortress dungeon.

“My dabbling in illusion magic signets is becoming a hobby.”

“With your penchant for falsehoods in general I’m surprised you aren’t a full mesmer.”

“Bah. I’ve never need magical assistance to make people believe what I want. But I _do_ find it fun.”

“Look. Put it back on again, before anybody sees.”

Joko’s arm was extended for him to admire the ring, but he decided to comply with what you wanted. The ring had to be pressed and turned, and its illusion was restored. In front of you, after a shimmering ripple, stood a perfectly nondescript human.

Only now, not distracted by your sudden reaction before, did you properly look at his appearance. The unreal man was astoundingly handsome. Even, proud features, deep, rich skin, and long black braids with golden adornments at the end.

Other than that, his clothes were average and nothing distinguished him from any other person you could pass and ignore on the street. He smiled at you, lazily, self-assured, but because his eyes hadn’t changed you could recall the exact look of condescension on the true Joko’s face.

“...Astonishing,” you breathed. “Is… is this what you looked like? When you were alive?”

“How should I know? I don’t exactly recall the features of an inferior form shed centuries ago,” it was strange to see him talk, lacking Joko’s necrotic tones, but retaining his cadence. “Although given how quickly the design came to me, I suppose it might have been.”

You were about to start asking the more dangerous question of _why_ he was doing this, but before you could Joko reached for you and drew you closer.

Strange, how his appearance unnerved you but was not off-putting. You swallowed. “Ah… heh… hello.”

“Don’t worry, I didn’t forget you.”

You blinked at what Joko offered you. Another ring, clearly imbued with energy like its counterparts. How much trust was involved here, in taking a gift from your ‘enemy’?

Not much, you decided, and put the ring on, mimicking the twist motion you’d seen Joko do. Your vision danced with a crystalline recomposing, working an illusion on you that you couldn’t control. You blinked, looked at your hands, and spluttered.

Skin, realistic and soft. You were human.

“By the Tree!”

“No,” said Joko, “you swear by the _gods_ now. Or me. Me is also fine.”

Gingerly you touched the back of your head.

“I have hair! Oh, my… that’s… strange.”

“Hurry up and acclimate. We have something more important to do.”

“What’s that?”

The man in place of Joko gestured you back to the market lane.

As you both melded into the crowd, you found yourself assuming this would not work. It couldn’t be that easy to fool everyone. Joko was still a very present danger to these unassuming folk trying to live their lives. Yet, when you and he walked with the crowd, nobody so much as looked at you.

For the first time, not one person stared.

The difference was so arresting you almost forgot to keep up. It was like being utterly invisible. Nobody clamouring to approach you or eyeing you with suspicion. For the first time in Amnoon, or even anywhere in the years since you’d completed your Wyld Hunt, you had nothing to prove to anyone.

Joko, hidden in his illusion, tugged your arm to keep you at his side. You were swallowed in the mob, belonging, not outside it.

The two of you made your way around the stalls. Painted clay vases, rainbow silks and piles of spices caught your eye. You watched Joko poking at an artisanal music box before dismissing it and walking away with you.

“They never use enough bones in their work.”

Passing more merchandise, you quipped back at him casually. You _knew_ this was absurd, of course. But there was nothing you could do. You could never expose Joko’s identity and terrify these people. It was out of the question. You _could_ stay with him, and make sure nothing went amiss. But Joko didn’t seem to be intentionally causing mischief, at all. There was nothing really objectionable about this charade, so far.

You had ended up at a rug seller’s cart, and a roll of blue and gold caught your eye.

“Oooh. I like this.”

You gently rubbed the weave, it was expertly made. Joko hovered at your side and evaluated it.

“I suppose it would suit the dining room,” he said with feigned boredom. You could have laughed out loud at the way he lied to amuse himself.

“What’s that?” said the merchant, catching your interest. “Isn’t it a lovely colour?”

“We’re touching up our place,” you beamed. “Just moved in together.”

The sound you got out of Joko made you smile even wider.

“Oh, congratulations! I’d be happy to offer a discount--”

“Oh, one second, please,” you disengaged yourself to find where Joko had stumbled to, and found him bent over laughing.

“You… take to this better than I expected,” he wheezed.

“I’ve picked up a thing or two from the biggest fraud in town.”

“This way.”

He’d quite quickly changed his mind and directed you away from the main square. The amount of people thinned and he was easy to follow, giving you a moment to marvel again at your fleshy arms and chest. Didn’t humans feel vulnerable like this all the time, with no bark on them?

When you looked up, Joko had taken you far from the noise of the bazaar and beckoned you to an unused alleyway, an awkward unused partition between two buildings. Once he had you in there, _he_ was the one pressing you against the wall.

“Come here, pet,” he mumbled, almost sweetly, and after being taken in this far by his friendly, charming persona, you did as you were bid.

This time around was different. Human Joko stroked your face, trailing his fingers, but less interested than usual. His hands - more tender now - were far better acquainted with your pretend body than you were. He was the one to loosen the clothes that would have had you confused. Then he lifted you by the waist, getting you pinned and held properly as you figured out wrapping your legs around him to support yourself. The way he sank into you was almost impatient.

“Let’s hope nobody discovers us,” he purred against your ear. His chuckle suggested he didn’t care. “Or they’d find… well… two completely unknown humans. Unable to help what they’re doing.”

Joko’s chatter, magnetic when he wanted it to be, was a danger all its own aside from his dashing appearance. His human form was so inviting. It was hard not to stare - his lips, his slightly bare shoulder, his welcome, clear expression of desire when he looked you over.

You almost forgot to keep yourself quiet. You squeezed your legs around his middle, holding on, desperate excitement leaving you reeling. Joko was leaning into you, animalistic and sloppy. Losing all restraint as you’d already abandoned yours.

“Oh, that’s _good_ , pet,” he murmured. His voice normal, except that you knew better.

“Ah-- I… I-- ohh…”

“If you’re going to speak, make it count.”

You didn’t want his swagger over leaving you breathless, getting you to this point so easily. He was so annoying when he had reason to be smug. But you couldn’t turn any tables on him this time - you were pinned, back bouncing against the wall, charmed by the attentions of the regally attractive man who wanted you and only you.

With one hand attempting to stifle your whimpers, both to block his satisfaction and prevent discovery, you wondered for a second about a passer-by happening to check the alley, finding two completely unimportant humans having rampant sex against a wall, leaving the onlooker staring… and Joko, you could tell, would be encouraged, never hindered, by an audience.

“Mmmnn-!”

“What’s that?”

“Mnhhh…”

“Ngh, louder!”

He rammed you, trying to dislodge your inhibitions with power and speed.

“Ohh, oh, I--”

“Come _on_ -”

“Ah! Joko!”

“Oh, _there it is_ \--”

The effect of saying his name empowered him just as it chilled you. But the chill melted, and again you were drenched with heat. Joko’s hard breathing negated his ability to act aloof. He was holding off the inevitable after that, slowing as he reached for your hand.

And your ring.

“As diverting as this was…” he panted, “you’re so much more _interesting_ the normal way…”

And as you gasped, expecting him to twist your ring and return your form, knowing your intricacies pleased him, he grasped his own hand instead and pressed the ring on his finger, sending the living Joko spluttering into fragments of crystals.

He was right there, nose to nose with you, grinning in his true gaunt, unliving form.

“Heh heh. _Boo_.”

Shock and excitement merged with the way he pushed his hips into yours. You thrilled; you were not _scared_. Not by him, ever, and you were about to climax without being able to assert yourself.

Immediately, desperately, foolishly, you flung your arms around his neck and kissed him.

He shuddered against you, unable to stop a visceral reaction. You moaned into it, your own pleasure racing, tightening, coiling up as you pulled him in with your legs. Satisfaction burst in you _deeply_ , feeling his helpless succumbing to you, letting you break away and hold your head high and _watch_ as he rode it out. The molten sensation erupted and filled you, _filled_ you, and you basked in every searing throb.

There was no bravado left by the time he let you down, and you propped yourself, weak but triumphant, with your feet on the floor as Joko struggled to retain composure. You twisted your ring and let him see your face. The illusion fell.

A weak smirk, when he noticed. “You… are not afraid of me, then.”

“Nope.”

“Heh. Anyone else… I would flay, for that. And give them a few more eyes until they saw _correctly_.”

You pretended to be more concerned with adjusting your clothes, removing all trace of the encounter. You sensed Joko was watching you and not hiding it.

“I… hm. Well. Ah…”

“Oh, you can go,” you offered, cheerfully, “if you’ve got things you need to be doing…”

He hesitated. You would’ve dearly loved to know what thoughts went through his head unspoken. Then, drawing himself up to his unnatural height, he winked at you and flicked his disguise back on.

“I shan’t get tired of you, Commander. Until next time.”

When he’d left the alleyway you dragged your hands down your face and let out all the breath you were holding.

 

The first thing you did was go to the harbour, in view of the boats, and go for a swim. Cool water soothed the exhausted fervor your body had been running on. You lay on your back, floating. Watching the sky turn pink and the stars begin to shine.

A vacation, further away from Elona, sounded really appealing after this.

You returned to your compact penthouse lost in thought. Dwelling would do no good, you knew that.

So you threw yourself into bed.

Some time later, Joko would be back again to test your defiance of him.

You were looking forward to it.


End file.
